The present invention relates to reactive armor for military vehicles such as tanks and armored personnel carriers. In particular, this invention relates to an improved means for protecting the surface area of the vehicle from attack and penetration of it's armor by various types of anti-armor projectiles.
In a military combat environment it is essential for the driver and occupants of land and sea vehicles to be protected from modern anti-armor projectiles. In general there are three types of anti-armor projectiles: kinetic energy projectiles, projectiles with shaped charge warheads, and projectiles with high explosive warheads. The kinetic energy projectile consists of a small subcaliber projectile of high density material launched from a gun tube by a sabot carrier and accelerated to supersonic velocity. This type of projectile does not have an explosive warhead but due to its high density and speed it easily penetrates unprotected armor and causes considerable damage to the vehicle by ricocheting off interior walls. In the shaped charge warhead, the projectile strikes the exterior armor causing a high explosive charge to collapse a metallic liner and form a high speed jet which then penetrates even very thick armor. In high explosive warheads, a high explosive charge detonates upon impact with the exterior armor causing damage by concussion or blast fragmentation.
The most effective armor available to defeat shaped charge warheads is reactive armor. Reactive armors are armors which contain explosives which react in response to the impact of the shaped charge jet, causing the jet to dissipate its energy prior to penetration of the hull armor. The principal type of reactive armor currently available is an explosive sandwiched between two plates of inert material. The present invention presents an improvement on this type of reactive armor.